


Dance Theater

by mid_nightowl (orphan_account)



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, agender!robin again because i like that headcanon, brief mentions of blood and injury, i had to edit so many of these tags after chapter two, rewrite of a piece i did on tumblr once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 06:39:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1769353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/mid_nightowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There's no way she'd love me back, they reasoned to themselves. I may not want to be addressed as a woman, but both being female-bodied... all the women here love men. Except Tharja. She's a 'special case'."</p>
<p>Robin's feelings for the army's dancer, also known as "Robin is worried about the nature of their love for their friend", also known as "thank god for pansexual stalker dark mages".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

One, two, three... saving up to build a theater was most definitely not easy.

Well, Olivia had known it would be difficult; she reflected on this as she piled the coins into little stacks as she counted them. She never would have guessed it might be as hard as she was finding it now, though; scraping every ounce she earned as a "soldier", hesitant as she was to use the title (after all, she was a dancer that could barely wield a sword, and danced like "a ham someone rolled down the stairs", as she had so eloquently put in her own words).

The frustration was tangible as she sat alone under the midday shade of an oak tree, sweeping the little stacks of coin back into her satchel. She was so far from her goal that she could almost laugh, but it felt like she would cry instead. Even with Robin helping, her goal was so far away she would probably be some kind of dead before she could even begin to start construction to set her dream in motion.

Tugging the satchel into her lap, Olivia pondered about Robin. They were there in that thought process; they usually were. They were such a sweetheart to keep hanging around and encouraging her, even going so far as to build a miniature theater model to help her scale up dimensions for the real thing! A gentle smile made its way up to her face as she thought about the honey-haired tactician, a quivering sigh escaping her lips. She was so lucky to have them as her friend. Yes... her friend.

Speaking of the devil, Olivia spotted Robin bounding up to her with a grin on their face that could only mean trouble. Everyone in the camp, from newcomer Tiki to their oldest friend Lissa, knew that look - they were either up to something, and that something was probably devious, or had a plan, and that plan was probably devious. Either way, the way their lips curled up and the glint in their eyes said everything.

"Olivia!" Robin bounded to a stop straight in front of the dancer, the tree's shade half-covering them, bouncing back and forth on their heels in excitement (a trait they seemed to have picked up from Lissa, in the three years they had known her). 

No lies, the overboiling of the tactician was making her nervous, but Olivia clutched her satchel of gold to her chest and clambered to her feet, unable to suppress the smile at her friend looking so excited. 

"Oh, I've been looking for you! A few of the others said you might be here." They made a small gesture with their hands to indicate that it was the few over in the barracks - consisting, the last time Olivia had checked, of Sumia, Maribelle, Sully and Henry. "I have a something to show you. A few things, actually! Just close your eyes."

Eyebrows were raised. "Why?"

"Because otherwise the surprise isn't as good. Come on!" They carried on in that manner for a while, Olivia hesitant to do it, before Robin shrugged.

"Guess that just means you won't get it then." They turned away with a last look back at the last second; Olivia huffed and closed her eyes.

"Okay, but no doing anything weird!" 

Oh, Robin couldn't promise that. Maybe asking her to close her eyes was a bad thing. They had a small little crush on her, and was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to quickly and softly kiss her.

But no, instead they stuck to their original plan and placed a large sack in her hands.

"Go on then, open them." They still had hold of the sack in case Olivia dropped it; she wasn't as clumsy as Sumia, but she was known to drop things in times of intense surprise, and Robin was sure she would be.

They were bang on the money. Upon opening her eyes and seeing the open, very large, sack of gold, her mouth fell open in shock, violet eyes searching the tactician's light brown ones for answers.

"W-wait, is this.... is this _gold_?" Her hands began shaking, her face turning pale before blooming bright pink. "Oh I... I can't take this, Robin, I'm sorry..."

They laughed, giving the sack a gentle push to cement that yes, they were gifting this to her. "Just take it, Olivia. Think of it as a friend wanting to see you live your dream. I get a fair bit more than you anyway, as a tactician and a soldier."

Oh, the way her blush deepened as she conceded to keeping the gold, Robin wanted to throw their arms around her and kiss both her cheeks. They bit their lip, eyes darting to the floor to push away those thoughts. 

_There's no way she'd love me back_ , they reasoned to themselves. _I may not want to be addressed as a woman, but both being female-bodied... all the women here love men._

_Except Tharja. She's a "special case"._

It was a well known fact around the barracks that Tharja was not what one would call "typical", even after taking away her being a Plegian dark mage and all, but that reassured Robin. To see another female-bodied companion that liked female-bodied people... it was like a weight taken from their shoulders from the wave after wave of man-and-woman weddings recently. Even if Tharja did also like... certain men, just the fact that she also liked women relieved them a lot. They felt a lot less out of place knowing that.

On the way back to the barracks, with the golden-brown dying fall leaves fluttering around them, they chatted about the theater - even after they returned to the barracks, even. They spent the whole languid afternoon discussing it. They were "best friends" after all - no matter what Robin wanted - and now that they had given her so much money, it was only fair they got a big part in that dream. 

Secretly it delighted them - _oh, if only I had been born a male._ The thought crossed their mind before they could stop it when they rested their head on their hands, golden blonde pigtails falling over her shoulders, watching Olivia's exaggerated gestures and excited expressions. _Maybe then I could marry her instead of just donating gold_.

They shook the thoughts away, getting deeply engaged in a conversation about paint colors and types of wood to use for the floor, grateful that the sleepy day had crawled by without incident.

-

Within weeks, they fled to Mount Prism with Grima hot on their heels, whipping out their weapons to defend themselves against an onslaught of devastatingly strong Risen on the holy ground. 

A high-pitched scream drew Robin's attention, and time slowed to a halt as they saw Olivia fall to her knees, clutching her gashed, heavily bleeding chest. Before anyone else could react, Robin dashed for her. Slipping boots and soft mud. Blood. So much blood. They screamed for Lissa, dropping to their knees beside the heavily wounded dancer.

"I'm sorry, Robin," Lissa whispered, eyes darting around to the other wounded. "Maribelle, Brady and I are just... we're inundated. You're gonna have to take Olivia somewhere safe, look after her while the others take the battle."

"I understand," they gasped as though they had been holding their breath. In truth, they had. "I'll look after her. Thank you, Lissa."

The war cleric dashed away, axe in hand, to cleave a Risen that was tormenting her son as Maribelle and Brady dashed from soldier to injured soldier, using so many staves that Robin wondered if they would use them all on just this one battle.

With Olivia in their arms, they retreated as fast as they could to a safe spot, guarded by a few of the children - including Lucina - who were not fighting.

Laid on the ground, at least she was not bleeding any more, but was very much unconscious. When they were certain nobody was looking, they swept some of the dancer's bubblegum pink bangs away from her face and placed a feather light kiss on her forehead.

"Gods, please just survive, Olivia," they whispered, tears welling up in their eyes as they clutched at her cold hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I felt bad that the previous thing I wrote ended the way it did and wanted to rectify it. Also, because this ship is hella cute and I wanted to write some more about it.

When Olivia awoke the next day, it was naturally Lissa, on healer shift for that evening, who alerted Robin. Oh, yes, she had known about their little crush for weeks. It wasn't like Robin hid it; they were actually fairly obvious with it, in the way their face softened at just the sight of the dancer, or the way they laughed a bit too loudly around her, or the way they always looked a bit lost without her. After all, being a good friend entailed knowing when your friend had a crush - so you could use it as blackmail material, of course - and Lissa was no exception. She knew when her brother had a crush on Sumia and vice-versa, she knew when Maribelle had a crush on Ricken and vice-versa, and she knew that Robin had a crush on Olivia. It was just the vice-versa part she wasn't sure about.

She wasn't going to stick around to find out after breaking into a run to keep up with Robin's manic pace, rushing to the tent Olivia had been specially placed in for 24-hour watch. After being very safely outrun by a good two or three minutes by the tactician, she decided that instead of spying, she would sit herself on the ground outside the tent and frantically try to catch her breath.

 

Oh, who was she kidding? Okay, she would peek. The temptation was too great.

 

"Olivia?" Their voice was unusually soft, a tone Lissa had never heard them use before. Using a small gap in the tent flap as a peephole, she saw Robin grasping Olivia's hand and gulping hard, as though they were trying to keep tears at bay while she stirred in the cot, evidently half-awake and struggling. "Lissa told me you were awake. Did you fall back asleep, you silly girl?"

She saw their tears finally fall, fast and close, down their cheeks as they placed their forehead against the hand they were clutching. Oh yes, Lissa knew from that moment. This wasn't a crush, and she supposed she hadn't noticed sooner because she hadn't seen the two together a lot, with all the injured she tended to. It ran so much deeper than a fleeting, transient flutter of the heart; peeking like this was trespassing on something heart-wrenchingly intimate.

Her breath finally back to normal, she stood, dusted her clothes, and bustled off to the other tents to assist the other healers. She left Robin with Olivia in that tent, knowing that at least she would have someone keeping a close eye on her for any changes in her condition.

 

-

 

She awoke again a few hours later, with Robin sleeping, their head on her belly. Looking around groggily, she faintly took in the surroundings - blindingly white. The smell of soap sickly and heavy in the air. This was not her own tent. Not Robin's tent, either - she had been there before to chat. Their tent smelt of musty books and leather, and was not so artificially, brightly white as this. The healer's tent then, maybe? Her head was pounding from the blood loss of yesterday. Oh, she remembered that, all right. Allowing her head to fall back into the pillow with a quiet sigh, she closed her eyes to try and block out the lurching room.

In the process, though, she had inadvertantly shifted Robin off her belly and into alertness. Olivia opened her eyes again when she heard the tactician's sleepy, confused noises, wondering when they had fallen asleep, now slumping over the cot instead of resting on it. The incoherent muttering was almost instantly replaced with silence as their eyes met. They opened their mouth, closed it again, and opened it, as though they knew what they wanted to say but the words died on their tongue.

"What are you doing here, Robin?" Olivia broke the silence, letting her head loll to the side rather than sit up and risk another dizzy spell, to see Robin better. "Is this the healer's tent? How did I get here?" Before she could ask any questions, Robin had thrown themselves at her, sobbing into her chest harder than they had done probably in their life. They grasped at her nightdress sleeves, unable to wrap their arms around her small waist because of the positioning of themselves and the cot in the way, struggling to take loud, gasping breaths between sobs, feeling their stomach wrench and heave. She gently ran her hands over their shoulders and back in slow sleepy circles.

"Gods, Olivia, I took you for dead," they wailed into her chest. Startling as this stark contrast to the usually collected, sometimes mischievous tactician was, this wailing person was still a very close friend of hers, and someone she bore deep affection for. The circles evolved into a tight hug, drawing Robin closer to her, pressing their shoulders tight against her. "All the blood... that wound... gods, **_Olivia_**..."

It wasn't said, but she knew exactly what they were saying. _What would I have done without you_. Her throat closed up tight as hot tears began pricking at her eyes. She hadn't meant to get struck by that Risen. She hadn't meant to have such a deep gash that she had nearly died. Her fingers dug into Robin's cloak as she tried to take shaky breaths to keep the tears at bay, making them grasp at her tighter, sobbing until their throat turned raw and made them gag.

When they finally broke apart from each other, Robin immediately turned their head away bashfully, whipping out a handkerchief to clean their face before turning back to the girl in the cot, who was still gulping back her own sobs. A silence settled over them, punctuated by Robin's snuffly post-tears breathing and Olivia's quivering pre-tears breathing. What broke it was Robin reaching their hand over to hers, lacing the fingers together. She reciprocated, squeezing gently, shooting an uncertain, tearful smile over at them.

 

Neither really knew what to say, so when Olivia disentangled their fingers and held out her arms to invite Robin to lay next to her in the cot, they scrambled over themselves, eventually fitting against the dancer, their cheek warm against her cold neck. Her arms draped over the tactician, holding them close, her own cheek resting on the top of their carefully brushed blonde hair. Robin's right arm draped across Olivia's ribs, their left arm clutching at her nightdress like a frightened child grasping at their mother's hem after a nightmare. They were vaguely aware of her humming, a tune they felt they should know but could not recall; they were more interested in the deep, primordial beat of her heart, of blood through her veins against their cheek. She was alive, and she was there. Cold and ill with blood loss as she was, she was living and holding them tightly. Their crushing anxiety was replaced with a fluttering heartbeat as the acknowledgement of her holding them sank in.

"I'm sorry," she whispered when they had both calmed down, wrapped around each other, in this strange embrace that forced them both to confront that they were standing on a metaphorical precipice in their relationship. "I'm so sorry, Robin." Her hands again clutched at their cloak, arms tightening as though she were trying to curl up around them and never let them go. Despite themselves, a smile ghosted over Robin's face. They had only dreamt of laying against her like this, albeit not really in a healer's tent. The warm feeling of their heart fluttering and stomach tying in knots, rather than heaving with sadness, told them only one thing. If they were going to tell her, it had to be now. The threat against them was mounting and they couldn't risk her dying before telling her this feeling they held.

"I guess while we're both still terrified of one of us dying, I should come clean with you." They spoke almost muffled, still with their cheek against her throat. However, they shifted, shuffling up in her arms until they were eye level with her, gulping nervously. She could feel them hesitate in the quivering of their belly against her own. "I-I love you." They winced as the words left their mouth, almost expecting to be unceremoniously dumped out of the cot. 

They weren't expecting Olivia to brush noses with them, a shy, flushed expression on her own face. When they blinked in surprise, she rested her forehead against theirs.

"Honestly, Robin?" The query came out whispered, bashful and happy. She blushed deeper as they smiled _yes yes yes yes_ , their eyes hopefully searching hers. Her breath shook a little bit as a smile spread over her cheeks, the grip on their cloak releasing and returning to those languid circles. A little giggle escaped her as Robin closed their eyes, snuggling closer to her. "I'm sorry for not talking about it to you sooner and leaving it until... well, now, I guess, when I'm injured." 

They opened their eyes, looking up at her, their smile faded into a look of curiousity. Her eyes flickered up nervously, toward the tent flap, and when reassured that nobody was going to waltz in any time soon and run out spreading news of the tactician and the dancer, she bowed her head slightly and pressed a small kiss to the corner of their mouth. Before she had even pulled back from that, they moved up and captured her lips proper, hands pressing into her back as both their eyes fluttered closed, clinging to each other as though their only surroundings were each other.

With their eyes closed, only able to hear, feel, and taste each other, it wasn't too far off. 

They broke off slowly, pressing their foreheads together with quiet giggles and gentle smiles.

"I love you too, Robin."

**Author's Note:**

> If there's interest, the original piece is up at ghost-administrator.tumblr.com/post/85426893190. It's a lot briefer, and written in my kind of casual no-dialogue no-caps style rather than my "proper" writing style, and also a lot more "possibly unrequited love" than in this one, I think.


End file.
